An increasing number of motor vehicles are fitted with navigation systems. When the destination has been specified, the system automatically calculates the correct route to be traveled and reliably guides drivers to their destination by means of optical and/or acoustic directions. The basis for this is usually a digitized road map stored on a CD-ROM that encompasses the road network as comprehensively as possible. Proceeding from the position of the driver's own vehicle within the digitized road map, the route to be traveled is calculated and, as and when required, recommendations to turn off are given that correspond to the respective situation.
Apart from information on the road network itself, modern navigation systems also offer information, for example about the curve characteristics of and distance to a bend being traveled, which characterizes the route being traveled in greater detail. This route data can be made available to the driver or to driver assistance systems. The route data can, however, also be transmitted directly to control units for controlling vehicle components such as the engine or gears. However, increasing volumes of data give rise to substantial storage and communication requirements in the motor vehicle. This calls for high-capacity memories and efficient data networks which are expensive.